About Jim O’Kane

James M. O’Kane, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, taught at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey from 1967 until retiring in 2006. He received his Ph.D. in Educational Sociology from New York University, his M.S. in Social Work from Columbia University, and his B.A. degree in Economics from St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York.

He has authored more than fifty articles as well as four books: Pamplona: A Sociological Analysis of Migration and Urban Adaptation Patterns (1981); The Crooked Ladder: Gangsters, Ethnicity, and the American Dream (1992); Wicked Deeds: Murder in America (2005); and Jefferson Avenue: Stories from a Brooklyn Boyhood 1941-1958 (2013).

Dr. O’Kane has been quoted in newspapers including The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, The Boston Globe, The Baltimore Sun, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Houston Chronicle, and The Miami Herald. He also has been featured in an in-depth interview on the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour on the topic of homicide.